{"id":669007,"url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator","title":"Senior Software Engineer — RISC-V Instruction Set Simulator","company":{"id":94,"name":"Qualcomm","domain":"qualcomm.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/qualcomm","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":73,"open_postings":1257,"ghost_share":0.212,"stale_share":0.108,"repost_share":0.472,"time_to_fill_p50_days":74,"computed_at":"2026-10-14T06:34:16Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cupertino, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":175600,"max":263400,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":263400},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":4,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"QEMU","optional":true},{"name":"Rest-Assured","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-27T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-02","last_verified_at":"2026-10-14T23:39:54Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":49,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":3,"flags":["repost"],"days_open":48},"description":"Company:\nQualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:\nEngineering Group, Engineering Group > CPU Engineering General Summary:\nAbout the Role\nWe are building a high-performance, production-grade RISC-V Instruction Set Simulator (ISS) that serves as the golden reference model for a family of next-generation 64-bit RISC-V processors. The ISS is a key component of our verification flow: it drives co-simulation against RTL, powers random test generation, and gives software teams a fast, accurate platform to develop and debug pre-silicon firmware.\nThe work is at the intersection of computer architecture, systems software, and verification engineering - writing the kind of C++ that has to be both correct to the bit and fast enough to run long-running benchmarks and boot Linux.\nWhat You'll Work On\nImplement the ISA: Translate RISC-V specification chapters into working C++ code. We cover a wide range of extensions: integer, floating-point, vector, bit manipulation, security features, interrupt handling, and more.\nSimulation correctness: Help maintain the fetch/decode/execute engine, memory protection, virtual memory, and privilege-level logic that make the simulator a trustworthy reference.\nCo-simulation: Work on the harness that runs the ISS alongside RTL and flags any differences, one instruction at a time.\nTesting: Write targeted unit tests that exercise individual features and compare against expected results derived from the RISC-V spec.\nDeveloper tooling: Contribute to and maintain a large collection of simulator extensions and utilities that help the user community be more productive.\nWhat We're Looking For\nSolid C++ skills and comfort reading unfamiliar codebases.\nComfortable with basic processor architecture, including pipelines, memory, privilege levels, and interrupts.\nStrong attention to detail; this work is spec-driven and correctness matters.\nWillingness to read a specification document and turn it into tested code.\nSome exposure to low-level or systems programming, such as embedded systems, operating systems, compilers, or hardware description.\nNice to Have\nExperience with RISC-V, x86, or ARM architecture.\nFamiliarity with simulators or emulators such as QEMU, Spike, gem5, or similar tools.\nExperience with GDB, ELF binaries, or bare-metal bring-up.\nBackground in hardware verification or RTL co-simulation.\nKnowledge of Linux internals.\nPython 3+ experience.\nMinimum Qualifications:\n• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.OR\nMaster's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\nOR\nPhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\nQualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail  or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).\nTo all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies:Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.\nEEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.\nQualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.\nPay rangeand Other Compensation & Benefits :\n$175,600.00 - $263,400.00The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer - and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.\nIf you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5935,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":4,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Artificial Intelligence","Autonomous Driving","Energy Efficiency","Car Electronics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-10T22:14:10Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-11T02:22:19Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-09-12T12:10:49Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-12T16:53:34Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-09-14T05:57:21Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-14T09:46:52Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-10-03T12:24:10Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 55 · green card filings: 6","filings_12m":55,"filings_prev_12m":87,"green_card_filings_12m":6,"median_offered_wage_usd":122008,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-03T21:08:04+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":32}],"liveness":{"score":22,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.3,"p_room":0.72,"age_days":48,"expected_fill_days":74,"reasons":["conf:2","repost:3","velocity","ghost","win:mid","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-14T06:34:16Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":263400,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-15T02:13:28Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":3198,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-16T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":94},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=94"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fqualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fqualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fqualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/qualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fqualcomm-senior-software-engineer-risc-v-instruction-set-simulator"}]}